Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c10.s2.t32: Agyeya

Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c10.s2.t32

Language: English

Agyeya

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Agyeya (March 7, 1911 - April 4, 1987) was an Indian Hindi litterateur. His birth name was Sachchidananda Hirananda Vatsyayana and his pen name was Agyeya, meaning ‘The Enigmatic’.

Agyeya was born in Kushinagar, Uttar Pradesh, India. He obtained the Bachelor’s degree of Science from Forman Christian College, Lahore (now in Pakistan) in 1929. In November 1930, he was arrested and jailed for taking part in the Indian independence movement. He was placed under house arrest after being released in 1933 and was freed in 1935. Later, he joined the Progressive Writers Association of India. During the Second World War, he joined the allied forces and took charge of propaganda and mobilisation works. After the war, he left the army and began to engage in literary creation and editorial work. From 1961-1964, he acted as a visiting scholar at the University of California, Berkeley. In 1964, he was given the Sahitya Akademi Award for his collection of poems *Angan Ke Par Dvar*. In 1965, he returned to India and continued to engage in editorial work. From 1969 to 1970, he taught at the University of California, Berkeley. In 1976, he served as the Director of the Department of Comparative Literature of University of Jodhpur. From 1977 to 1980, he held the post of editor-in-chief of *Navbharat Times*. In 1978, he was given the Jnanpith Award for his collection of poems *Kitni Naavon Mein Kitni Baar*. In 1983, he obtained the Golden Wreath at the Struga Poetry Evenings, Macedonia. Agyeya died in New Delhi in 1987.

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Agyeya, as one of the pioneers and founders of Hindi modernist literature, made significant contributions to Hindi experimentalism poetry, new poem and new novel movement. His representative works include full-length novels ‘*Shekhar: Ek Jeevani*’ (edition of 1941 and edition of 1944), ‘*Nadi Ke Dweep*’ (1952), ‘*Apne-apne Ajnabi*’ (1961), ‘*Hari ghaas par kshan-bhar*’ (1949), ‘*Aangan Ke Par Dvar*’ (1961) and ‘*Kitni Naavon Mein Kitni Baar*’ (1967).

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Agyeya paid a visit to China in 1984 and wrote poems for this trip. Chinese studies on Agyeya started from 1980s. Liu Anwu gives a brief introduction to Agyeya’s life, major works and creation characteristics in his book, ‘*The History of Hindi Literature*’ (1987). Chinese monographic study on Agyeya is the doctoral dissertation of Peking University in 2003 under the title of ‘*Studies on Modern Hindi Writer Agyeya’s Novel Creation*’.

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(Guo Tong)